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Charger by Mary Scheier / American Art
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Charger

1950 Mary Scheier Born: Salem, Virginia 1908 Died: Green Valley, Arizona 2007 Edwin Scheier Born: New York, New York 1910 Died: Green Valley, Arizona 2008 earthenware 3 x 13 in. (7.6 x 33.0 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Helen Williams Drutt English and H. Peter Stern in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Renwick Gallery 2007.47.25 Smithsonian American Art Museum
4th Floor, Luce Foundation Center



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Charger
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Edwin and Mary Scheier collaborated on most of their pieces, with Mary creating the forms and Edwin glazing and decorating them. Edwin rarely made preliminary drawings for his decorations. As a result, his designs are imaginative and impulsive, showing the influence of late surrealism and abstract expressionism. In the 1950s, when the Scheiers made this work, both Edwin and Mary had taken an interest in the forms and decorative motifs of Pre-Columbian pottery. The face inside Charger shows the influence of this art, but the addition of a fish suggests, instead, the unexpected juxtapositions of surrealism. The raised sides act as walls, enclosing this imaginary creature in the clay world constructed for him by the Scheiers.

For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.


Keywords

decorative arts - ceramic

Crafts - Clay

About Mary Scheier

Born: Salem, Virginia 1908 Died: Green Valley, Arizona 2007

About Edwin Scheier

Born: New York, New York 1910 Died: Green Valley, Arizona 2008

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